Method of mining coal.



Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. A. KUHN. METHOD or xmms con.. APPLICATION IIIBD 00T- 19. 1907.

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H A. KUHN.

METHOD .0F MINING COAL. APPLxoA'rIoN 'FILED 001'. 1o, 1901.

Ptented Sept. 20, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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www. ...MM wwwvfni WITNESSES.

H. A. KUHN. METHOD or umm@ ooAL.- 4 ArlfLloA'rIon FILED 60119. 1001.970,725. Patented e 2o, 1910.

8 ETF-SHEET 8.

WITN ESSES. n INVENTOR.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

HARRY A. KUHN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD or MINING COAL.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

Application led October 19, 1907. Serial No. 398,196.

To all whom 'it may cof/wem:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. KUHN, a resident of Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Methods of Mining Coal; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and

4or dynamite were inserted. The effect of the blast was to break downthe coal and great quantities of it were often reduced to a very finestate so as to be practically useless for certain purposes, therebygreatly reducing the value of the output of the mine. It is verydifficult for the miner t0 judge the effect that a certain charge ofpowder will have on the coal in all cases, as the effect may varyaccording to the seam in which the work is being done, so that theblasting has always been done more or less in a haphazard sort ofmanner.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of mining coal whichwill dispense with the blasting and which will produce the coal in largelumps, thereby doing away with the ne Vslack which has to be .disposedof at a very low price.

To these .ends my invention comprises, generally stated, the method of`mining coal consisting in making a plurality of parallel cutssimultaneously in the wall or solid of the coal seam, and subdividingintermit- .tently the direct cutting force, making each cut, into twocomponent forces, one component working in the plane of the cut and theother component working at an angle to the plane of the cut, therebycutting and directing simultaneously all the coal in a deinite directionto a definite place and then conveying away the coal from said place.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation partly inVertical section of a suitable machine for carrying out my invention;Fig. 2 is a plan View; Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-3Fig. l; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the yoke head; Fig. 5 'is aninverted view of one of mine.

the disk cutters; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of a portion of va cutterand wedge; and Fig. 7 is a face view of the wall of coal after the cutshave been made therein.

I will describe my improved method inV connection with a suitablemachine, al-

though my improved method may be carried out with varied forms ofapparatus.

In the drawing the numeral 2 designates a suitable truck with the wheels3 adapted to travel on the track 4 which is laid in the Erected on thetruck 2 is the frame 5 which may be composed of channels and angle barssuitably connected and braced to form a rigid structure. Supported bythe frame is the conveyer trough 6 which is arranged at an incline andwithin said trough.

is the conveyer chain 7 provided with the conveyor arms S. This chainpasses around the sprocket wheels 9 and 10 at the rear end of themachine, said sprockets being mounted on the shafts 11 and 12,respectively. A motor 14 is mounted on the truck 2, and the motor shafthas the pinion 15 thereon which meshes with the pinion 16 which mesheswith the pinion 17 on the shaft 18. This shaft 18 carries the bevelpinion 19 which meshes with the bevel pinion 20 on the shaft 1l. Thechain 8 passes around the sprocket wheel 21 on the vertical shaft 22.Secured to the lower end of the shaft 22 is the under-cutter disk 23.Carried by the truck 2 is the carriage 24 mounted on the wheels 25. Onsaid carriage 24 is the frame 26 which has the center pin 27 swiveled inthe center plate 28 of the carriage 24. This frame 26 has the uprights29 connected at the upper end by the channels 30. Vithin the uprights 29are the vertical ,guide-ways 31.

Resting on the frame 26 is the base plate 32 provided with the uprightend pieces which have the tongues 34 engaging the grooves 31 in thestandards v29. To provide for the raising and lowering of the base plate32 threaded bars 35 engage threaded seats 36 in the end blocks 33. Theupper the stub shaft 44. vSecured to the stub shaft 44 is the operatingwheel 45'.

Mounted on the base plate 32 isthe motor 46 andJ a pinion 47 on themotor shaft engages the gear wheel 48 on the shaft 49. The shaft 49'projects through the forward end' block 33 and through the gear wheel50 portion 53'which is adaptedV to engage the inwardly projectingp0rtionf54 of the end block 33. This permits of the rotary movement ofthe ear wheel for the purpose hereinafter se forth. The pinion mesheswith the gear wheel 50, said pinion4 being mounted on the shaft 56operated by the handle 57.

The shaft. 49 asses through the' yoke 51 and carries at iss outer endthe pinion 58 which meshes with the pinion 59 on the shaft 60 journaledin the yoke 51. Mounted on the shaft 60 arethe sprockets 61 and 62.Sprocket chains 63 lead from the sprockets 61 and 62 to 'the sprocketwheels 64 on the shaft 22a. Idler sprockets 65 are mounted on the shaft66 to guide the sprocket chains 63. The chains 63 are prof vided withthe conveyer arms 68. which are adaptedto sweep over the cuts/made bythe disk cutters 69 and convey the dust or cuttings from said cuts.These disk cutters69 are secured to the shaft 22a and said 'shaft isvdriven by the sprocket chains 63. Secured to the lower face of the diskcutters 69 are the wedges 70 which are adapted to` wedge down the coalin the manner hereinafter set forth.

In order to provide for the driving of the 4undercutter 23, a clutchsleeve 71 is secured engage a clutch face on the lower sprocket 62. Asprocket chain 74 is adapted to pass around the sprocket 72 and aroundlt-he i sprocket wheel 75 on the shaft 22 to which the undercutter 23 issecured.l In carrying out my improved metho with `the above describedapparatus, -the truck is run into the mine upon the track 4, and whenthe cutters-have been brought up in front of the face or seam of thecoal poweris applied to drive the-cutters,'where upon the cuttersrotating ata high rate of speed cut into the face of the coal and aplurality of Aparallel cuts or kerfs are made therein, leaving betweenthe cuts the par-l tially severed block vof coal..ASimultanedisks,'bring a force` to bear upon the par` ously with thecutting of these parallel cuts,

the action of the wedges takes place which, rotating as they do withthe-cutting tially severed blocks at an an' le to thev line of the cut,whereby the said blocks are broken by said forceand the coal in this waydislodged In other words, I subdivide intermittently the direct cuttingforce,'making each cut and working in each cut, into two componentforces, one component force working in the plane of the cut and actingto cut the coal'and the other component force working' at an angle tothe plane of lthe cut, which is the wedging action, whereby the coal iscut and dislodged simultaneously and' when so dislodged is directed inadenite direction to a denite place to be acted on by the cbnvey'er arms8 and con- 'veyed away.

The carriagecarrying the cutters may be conveyed in any suitable manner,'and after a series of cuts have been made to proper depth and the coalbetween the cuts 'dislodged,' the carriage may be withdrawn,

whereupon the operator by turning the hand wheel 45 land through thethreaded bars 35 lifts or raises the bed plate 32 carrying the motor.and the parts connected therewith, together with the oke carrying thecutters 69. This lifting o the bed plate may be continued until thecutters 69 'have been brought into the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 1, whereuponpower is applied to rotate said cutters and anotherseries -of parallel cuts are made at a higherl point. In. the samemanner as above described this coal at a higher level is cut anddislodged. By raising the bed plate 32 the sprocket 62 is disconnectedfrom the clutch 71 and the under-cutter 23 .remains inopery ative.

If desired, a plurality of vertical cuts may be formed in the coal andtoaccomplish this the operator turns the harfdle 57 and so rotates theyoke 51 until the 4disk -cutters 69 are brought-A around into a verticalposition. By the above method I am venabled to remove the coalcontinuously by making a series of parallel cuts and dislodging the coalbetween the cuts without cutting, clawing or scraping it loose. Inconnection with the cutting operation I combine a forcel which acts atan angle to the lineof cut` and which breaks loose the coal in lumps-and withgreat saving in power. Furthermore, the coal as it 1s. cut' iscontinuously directed to one spot where the conveyer re ceives it andconveys it away to be loaded upon the cars.

After having made. a series of horizontal parallel cuts 4in the` face ofthe coal I may stop the operation of the machine before the wedges havebegun to'break -loose the coal and by swinging the machine aroundso asindicated' in* dottedlines Fig. 1, I may make to bring the cutters intothe vertical position a series' ofcross cuts intersecting the parallel Ycuts. In thismanner I cross-cut the face-of the coal at regularintervals so that the coal is readily broken down by means of the wedgeswhen the cutters penetrate suiiiciently to bring by other` forms ofv aparatus than 'that illus- .trated and describe i' .apparently even so'tlng operation be 'ns I have a comparatively f y i 970,725

the Icoal when cross-cut in the above manner breaking off in large lumpsand the amount of line slack is reduced.- Furthermore, by cross-cuttingin this manner and by cutting down the coal the face of the coalis keptthat when the next cuteven wall to wor on.

My improved methodv may be carried out such as by two cutters 'operated'as saws with means carried'thereby for dislodging or breaking loose thecoal between the cuts' by means of a tool consisting of vtwo cuttersconnected up to ya ycommon shankl ortion adapted to be driven into thewall o the coal by blows administered to the shank portion and av wedgecarried by one of the/cutters adapted to dislodge or break loose lthecoal severed by the cutters. WhatI claim is: l

1. 'The method of mining coal consisting in cutting a plurality of slitssimultaneously in `the wall or solid of the coal at right angles totheface thereof,l and dislodging .the 'coal lying between said slitssimultaneously with the cutting action.'l

i2. The method of mining coal, consisting in cutting a plurality ofparallel slits simultaneously inthe wallor solid of the coal at rightangles to the face thereof, and disthese wedges or-jars to bear,y

nent force working in the lodging the coal lying between Vsaid slitssimultaneously withthe cutting action.

3. The method of mining coal', consisting in cutting continuously alluality of slits simultaneousl in the wall).or solld of the "coal, andapp yinor a dislodging force intermittently 1n the sl1ts at an angle tothe plane of the cut, -while the cutting operation is going on.

4..The method of timesin the w l or solid of the coal, and subdividingintermittently the direct cutting force making each cut and working ineach cut into two component forces, one compolane of the cut orceWorking at and theother component whereby the an angle to the lane ofthe cut, coal is dislodve. i V a 5. The method of cutting coal,consisting in cutting a plurality of arallel cuts in the wall or solidof the coal, t ien making a series of cross cuts intersectin said firstcuts, and breaking loose the coa between said cuts simultaneously withthe cross cuttin action. In testimony whereof, I thesai HARRY AXKUHNIhavehereunto set my hand.

' HARRY A. KUHN.

,Witnessesz ROBERT C. To'rrlm, J. R. KELLER.

mining coal, consisting 'in cutting a plurality of slits at Vthe same

